While I’ve Been Away

So, I’ve had another long blog hiatus.  Sorry.  My life has been pulled in so many different directions lately that I constantly have something to do.  First of all, my so many showings post resulted in an offer on our house.  After a little negotiation, we reached a deal!  Our house is sold!  So, that meant we had to hurry to find a new house so that we could close both houses at the same time.

I went out with my mom and sister since Evan was working.  We saw a handful of houses, but nothing felt quite right.  That is, until, we found “the one”!  I brought Evan and the boys to see it the next day.  It is a nice ranch with what we were looking for – at least three bedrooms, a basement, and a yard.  In fact, we have a fenced in yard and a finished basement!  We were able to negotiate the price down a bit as there is some cosmetic work to do before/once we move in.  We just had our home inspection the other day, so we’re waiting to hear if the current homeowners are okay with making a few repairs.

So, now we are trying to balance getting ready to move with everyday life.  We started packing and we now have some boxes lining our family room wall.  Evan and I figure if we do a little packing a couple days a week, we’ll be all packed in no time.

That has been a big portion of our life, but we’ve still managed to continue to have a busy month otherwise.  Our church had their picnic a couple of weeks back.  In fact, that’s where we were when the second showing happened that ultimately led to the sale of our house.

The place we were at added this giant water slide down a big hill.  Every male in my family went down it multiple times.  Daniel wanted to do it completely alone.  Unfortunately for him, Evan had to stay by him since it led into a small pool of water at the bottom.  But, I have a feeling that next year, he’ll be more ready to do it completely alone.

Evan and Daniel

Nicholas is on the right.

We started school this past Monday.  I have been so preoccupied with the move that I wasn’t as prepared as I would have liked.  Yes, I have my days planned, but some of the text books were still hidden away in my closet because of all of the showings.  Also, some activities had to be cut out.  So, I just wasn’t up to my standards of preparation, but I quickly recovered.

We started the morning with our annual pictures.  Nicholas is in third grade and Daniel is in preschool.  Then, Evan brought home donuts.  It is his tradition to do that on the first day of school.  Daniel should really be given a can of frosting and a bottle of sprinkles because that is all he really cares about.  It really isn’t appetizing to watch him eat a donut.

He is holding up a sprinkle.

Now you see it . . .

. . . now you don't!

Sprinkle face

Homeschooling is definitely nice for all of the flexibility that we need to have for this move.  We needed to go check out some carpet prices this week.  We had the home inspection.  We also found time to squeeze in a beginning of the school year outing, all while completing our school work.  School can be done at any time.  I also like the boys to have real life school.  They should learn how to grocery shop; learn about a home inspection; get out into nature and just explore.  It was a good first week back.

This week will continue to be busy.  Of course, there will be more packing, but we’re also starting to gear up for CC.  I have my first tutor meeting this week to go over the first 6 weeks.  Before the sale of the house, I was getting prepared for our first week (which thankfully isn’t until after Labor Day).  But, I haven’t done much since.  So, now I have to get back into that mindset as well.  We have a lot of kids this year.  Last year I had five kids in my class.  I have seven this year (6 boys, 1 girl).  That will be an active class!

We also have some school orientations and activities in the weeks ahead.  Thankfully, I am pretty organized.  Hopefully, that will lessen some of the chaos that comes from so much happening at once.  All in all, we have a lot of exciting things ahead.  I'll do my best to blog about them.

So Many Showings . . .

We had quite a week!  We have never had so many house showings before.  It was hard trying to keep our house nice and neat, but it looks like we have hope that we will sell this house.  We actually have a second showing this weekend!  Someone wants to take a second look.  So, we will see what happens.

Half of the showings we had this week coincided well with activities we already had planned, so we were already going to be out of the house.  The other half of the showings I had to get a little more creative.

Last Sunday we celebrated Evan’s birthday with my family.  The boys were able to ride their bikes, which is something they hadn’t done in a while.  They both are getting so much better and faster on their bikes.  We also were able to take a decent picture of our family of four.  Daniel needs one for preschool this fall.  We tried taking one a couple of months ago, but I didn’t like it.  This one passes the test.

We went to the fair this week.  The animals were okay, but the rides seemed to get most of their attention.  Both boys were able to pick a few rides they wanted to go on. 

We couldn't get Daniel to look at the camera!

He loved to wave at us!

Nicholas wasn't feeling this ride.  Daniel kept yelling at him to smile.

He looks happier.  Oh, that's because the ride is over.

Getting strapped in, ready to jump.

There he goes!

As we were leaving the fair we saw something in the distance that caught our eyes – elephants!  Yes, there was an elephant show at the fair.  Two elephants danced and did tricks.  We didn’t see any elephants when we went to the zoo, so this was a treat.

Yesterday we had two showings.  One was in the early afternoon and one in the evening.  The boys and I went for a late lunch for the first one.  The weather was so nice we opted for the patio.

Then we to the dollar store and each boy was able to pick out a few items.  They thought this was so much fun!  Thanks, G.G.!

Dog, squishy ball, coloring/sticker book, and dog tags.

Our lunch must have sounded good to Evan because he wanted to meet us at the same place for our evening showing.  He was coming home from work late and was pretty hungry.  The boys and I found our same table from lunch.  Afterwards, we walked the walking paths behind the restaurant.  

Today, my parents took the boys to a little carnival at a local assisted living place where members from their small group work.  There was food, a clown, balloon animals, and pony rides.  Both boys had so much fun!

Well, now we wait to hear whether or not we will get an offer on the house.  Thankfully, we already planned on being gone when this showing happens.  It makes the time go by so much quicker when that happens.  We haven't started looking at houses other than online.  Once we get an offer, then we'll be getting out there right away.  Hopefully, we'll have some good news!